Teamplay Strategy

[Dodger]

Sorry...done it again...I've been thinking!
Looking through the PL / Blonde threads both on here and over there...

Poker really isn't a ''team'' game is it?

I've seen ''team tactics'' mentioned quite a lot...but does anybody know what exactly they are???

The only time the team comes into it is when the points are handed out at the end.

Team strategy, as far as I can find on the net, doesn't exist as such.

I would assume that, in general, the team with the most chips at any stage during a tournament would be in front. {This would probably change towards the very end...but I am concerned here with early and mid game scenarios.}
So taking out a team member is neither beneficial nor detrimental to the standing of your team...although it will make your own position better, it will have no effect on the overall team standing.
Leaking chips to the opponent is detrimental to your team, while taking opponents chips would be beneficial.
So the basic tactic would then be....don't give chips to the opposition.

But that isn't a team tactic...it's just how you should always be playing poker.

Soft play is often mentioned in team games.
However, if taking a team member's chips benefits you, without harming the team...then why the hell would you want to take it easy on them?
If your mate is short stacked and you have a chance to take him out...then why leave him at the mercy of your opponents...take the chips and move on...the more chips you have, the better it is for you and you're not harming the team position.

So then...are there any logical team tactics {short of outright cheating of course!} ???
If you know what they are then please enlighten us...as I'm sure nobody else really knows any either.
Either that...or I'm just too bloody thick to see the obvious!

[slapdash]

Well, in a tournament that is not winner-takes-all, two players will tend to win more in total (more money, or more points) if their chips are roughly equally divided between them. So it advantages them, as a pair, if the bigger stack "dumps" to the smaller stack, or if the bigger stack doesn't try too hard to bust the smaller stack.

As a rather extreme example, imagine a tournament with three players remaining, where the top two win $1 million each, but third place gets nothing. Suppose the three players have equal chip stacks, but suppose two of the three players are playing as a team. The worst the "team" can do is to win $1 million, and if they get all-in against each other, then (unless there's a split pot) that's all they will win. So "team tactics" mean that they shouldn't get all-in against each other: if one of them goes all-in and the third player has folded, then it's -EV for the team if the second member calls, even with AA.

Is that "short of outright cheating"? It depends what the rules are. And I've lost count of how many times I've said this (it's one of my little obsessions ), but a problem I have with most "team poker" tournaments is that nobody seems to know what the rules are, including the people who organize them.

[Dodger]

I can envisage many different final table actions that could be deemed underhand or just downright wrong.
Until specific rules are laid down regarding team poker play then things are always going to be uncertain...and from the poker sites' point of view that can't be good for the game.
Guessing that the lack of responses implies that indeed it is ''every man for himself''...at least until the final table where taking out a team member may well be counter productive points wise. But then again, as chip leader I ain't laying down AA on the points bubble just because a team member has moved all-in!